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Aluta continua…

As you’ll recall, Trevor Manuel and I on June 12 reached a temporary settlement with the Court’s approval. Unfortunately, he has not followed through. I was obliged to file documents within 15 days from 8 June, so I have this morning filed amendments to my pleas and counterclaims in his defamation case 5156/08 against me.

The demand is the latest salvo in a battle between the two men that has run over several years.

It is made in papers Crawford-Browne said he filed today in the Cape High Court, where Manuel is currently pursuing an application to permanently gag Crawford-Browne from accusing him of arms deal corruption.
Manuel also wants Crawford-Browne declared a vexatious litigant.

In a “notice of motion for dismissal, plea and counterclaims”, Crawford-Browne said his involvement in the arms deal stemmed from his appointment by archibishop Njongonkulu Ndungane to represent the Anglican church in the 1996-98 Defence Review.

“I did so voluntarily without remuneration and in the public interest, but I took my responsibilities seriously when grave allegations and evidence of corruption emerged,” he said in the papers.

He said he had now spent an estimated R5 million of his own funds in “exposing the arms deal scandal”.